The Lost Episode of The Painted Lady and The Blue Spirit
by otpssssssssss
Summary: A girl gets read bed-time stories to out of an old journal that her parents are mysteriously secretive, and slightly possessive about. Determined to find out what exactly is so special about the book, she decides that its time to find out what the story really is written about. A Zutara fanfiction, no fluff. Cover image is not mine, its taken from @nymre on tumblr.


**Hey, hope you enjoy this story. Its kind of Zutara, with an exception of fluff.**

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My parents often told me of the stories of the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady since I learnt to read at age four.

They read the tales out of an old handwritten notebook, which I found strange; none of my friends been read to out of a storybook like mine. My parents had taken a particular liking to that certain book, so almost every night, I heard the same set of legends over and over again. The stories were simple, but somehow they managed to entertain me every single night. However, during my teenage years, I realized that the story was somewhat incomplete. It ended too abruptly, almost as if my parents were hiding something. I had asked them how it ended, but they just repeated the same strange ending over to me before dismissing the subject or walking away. The fact I never actually read the journal was much stranger. My parents had always possessed the habit of reading the book to me, rather than letting me read it myself.

When I was young, I didn't think of it that much, but as I grew older, my interest in the story did not recede; and slowly, I managed to find more and more holes in the story. My determination to discover the complete story, paired with my indignation that I was correct made me start to snoop around the rooms, despite my reserved demeanor. My staunch upbringing had drilled the lessons of not being a busybody into my brain, but my keen interest seemed to be stronger. After about an hour of stealthiness, I slipped into my parents room, and shovelled around their drawers and cabinets, wondering where they would keep such a journal. My eyes stopped on a gold ornate bookshelf which was pushed against the wall.

I tilted my head, my fingers skimming the spines of the dusty old books, eyes flicking from title to title, trying to find the familiar leather bound book. I searched shelf after shelf, moving from the bottom to the top, until I had stand on tiptoes to even catch a glimpse of the books. But as my hands reached the end of the line of books, I recognized the soft, worn fabric of that familiar book. I slid the book out from its hiding place, and held it in both hands, feeling a bit weird to be in possession of it. I was guilty holding such a treasured piece of my parents' past in my hands, but curiosity got the best of me. I retreated to a corner of the room and settled myself in a small gilded bench, shifting so that the book caught the sunlight streaming in from the open window. My fingers cracked the book open, handling the paper so gently as if it was going to disintegrate into dust at the touch of my hand. I drunk in the words, feeling a strange sense of joy at last.

"Once there was a young woman who people only knew as The Painted Lady. Before the end of the Hundred-Year War, she had saved a village from the wrath of the Fire Nation."

On one occasion, the lady encountered that same village, which she often delivered food to since the water surrounding it was too polluted to sustain any life. The fisherman were always sitting around, doing nothing, since their nets and lines were pretty useless. They idolised her to the point they treated and spoke of her like a god, and statuettes of her were made and sold to everyone. A statue of the Painted Lady was a common sight in the corner of each villagers house.

On one particular night, she noticed that the village was attacked by the Fire Nation soldiers. Houses were being burned down in huge blasts of fire from the benders as the defenseless villagers fan for cover, which they found in the boats that served as transportation to and fro. The lady had launched herself in the fray, defending her people as well as she could.

In the heat and confusion of battle, the lady had been struck on the leg, and the fire burned and blistered her skin. She stumbled, her leg crimson from the blow. She tried to heal herself but her concentration was broken as another soldier threatened attack. She flung up her hand, bending her element in an arch at the soldier. The soldier ducked down deftly, quickly avoiding her attack, and launched another blast aimed for her uninjured leg. The Lady knew at that moment that she had to get away, so, glancing at the edge of the bridge she was on, she rolled towards it. Suddenly, another soldier appeared at her feet, cornering her, hands hovering over her legs, ready to grab her if she tried anything suspicious. She squeezed her eyes shut as both soldiers aimed a fireball at her at the same time, preparing for the end.

At that moment, a black-cloaked person darted in front out of nowhere, intercepting the fire with dual dao swords, using the blades to ricochet the fire in the soldier's general direction. He grabbed her by the waist, and jumped away from the battle. The Lady muffled a shriek of surprise as her attackers grew further away and smaller while her savior carried her away from the action. Once they were safe, he sat her down gently before walking away into the forest. The Lady regained her composure quickly, sat herself up and shifted her body towards his retreating figure.

"Wait, don't go." The Lady whispered. At her voice, the stranger stopped, but did not look back. "Who are you?"

The stranger looked back, so the Lady could see his face, or rather, mask. "I should go."

"Why?"

"Because I just have to."

"You could at least stay until I finish healing myself."

The Lady could feel his eyes on her, although she could not see them behind the shadows of the mask. "You're fine, so I'm going now."

"No, I'm not." The Lady brought her leg into the light of the moon, wincing at the sight of charred flesh.

"Fine. I'll stay for a while." The stranger replied begrudgingly. "Pesky woman," He muttered under his breath. The Lady heard his comment, but did not reply, instead hiding a smile.

"Who are you?" The Lady repeated.

The stranger avoided her gaze. "Why would you want to know?"

"Because you saved me. I at least want to thank you by a name."

"I guess you could call me The Blue Spirit."

The Lady looked at his mask. It was blue and white with a devilish smile marring its features. "Why would you want to wear a mask?"

"I could ask you the same question." He replied stiffly.

"To hide the fact that I am not who they think I am." The Lady spoke guiltily.

"Then who are you really?"

"Why should I tell you when you haven't told me who you really are?"

"I already told you. I'm the Blue Spirit."

"That's not the answer I was looking for."

"If I told you, you wouldn't like the answer."

"Fine. I'm nice so I'll tell you who I am first," The Lady muttered. "I'm from the Water Tribe. I'm not from around here. I'm not even a god."

He seemed happier, almost amazed. "If I told you I don't think you'll look at me the same."

"Why won't I? You just saved my life."

"You don't get it, do you?"

"I promise I won't change my views on you."

The Blue Spirit took a deep breath, "I'm from the Fire Nation."

At those words, he shuffled away, apparently ashamed of his heritage. The Lady's eyes shone slightly.

"Then why did you save me?"

"I just felt like I had to."

At this point, half a page after that was left blank. I recalled my mother saying those exact same words before shutting the book and kissing me good night, before taking herself and the book back to her own chambers. I stared at the last sentence, feeling a tinge of disappointment. Was this for real? Was this really the end? So my parents really did not just stop in the middle of a story and say goodnight? The story literally stopped there. But despite all this, I was so sure there was so much more to this story than meets the eye. I flipped through the book frantically, trying to find any evidence of the continuation of the episode. The search yielded no results, and there was no stray piece of paper, or out-of-place writing.

I turned right to the back of the journal, and almost laughed out loud at seeing a piece of paper pasted to that back cover, making some sort of pocket to hold papers. I sifted through the contents, finding nothing of interest. Old sketches, tickets, lists, and et cetera were stuffed in there, but nothing with the likes of a story. I pulled out the papers, and flipped through them, looking for anything similar to what I was looking for. I was immediately delighted at seeing a small folded up paper tucked in the back, sandwiched between two unimportant tickets to some sort of food fair. My heart skipped a beat as I gingerly unfolded the crinkled parchment. The same handwriting that had recorded the legend stretched across the page. I smiled, feeling a sense of relief that I was correct. At least the forbidden snooping was worth it now, or somewhat justified.

"The Lady was silent for a while. 'You aren't like the rest, are you?'"

The Blue Spirit seemed like he was scowling. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"It's supposed to be a compliment." The Lady scoffed. "Sometimes it good to be different. Different from other Fire Nation people, at least."

"So what if I'm different? It doesn't even matter now. My father and sister hate me and my mother is gone. " His voice quavered at the last few words.

The Lady was stunned for a moment. "Then there's something we have in common. I lost my mother as well."

He was speechless. He realized he had to say something.

"I'm sorry." The Blue Spirit looked at her more intently.

There was a moment of awkwardness between both of them.

The silence was broken by the Lady. "I would like to see your face."

"Why?"

"Because I would like to know what my savior looks like. I'm sure anyone who gets rescued would."

"No."

"What, it's top secret or something?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"You would look at me differently."

"That's what you said before, and that didn't change my views on you."

The Blue Spirit turned, so his entire body was facing the Lady. "Then take off your veil."

The Lady hesitated. "And you would take off yours too?"

The Blue Spirit shrugged. "Fine. It's fair that we find out each other's identities."

The Blue Spirit moved closer to the Painted Lady, and placed his hands around her veil, while her hands were positioned around his mask. They looked straight at each other, and at that moment before the Painted Lady slid the mask off the Blue Spirit's face, she could see a glimmer of a smile appear in the darkness shielding his face. And in the moment before the Blue Spirit parted the Painted Lady's veil, he noticed the slightest smile behind the cover. And at the same moment they both removed each other's masks, amber eyes met sapphire blue ones. They knew from that moment that their fate was sealed.

At that point, I heard the door open and shut, accompanied by the tapping of footsteps, announcing the arrival of my parents. But as I looked up at them, their amber and sapphire eyes met mine, I saw that standing there, were the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady.


End file.
